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Thread: REMEMBERING A LEGEND: AMERICAS ORIGINAL FISHING TV PIONEER!

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    Default REMEMBERING A LEGEND: AMERICAS ORIGINAL FISHING TV PIONEER!





    THERE ARE now thousands of outdoor-type shows on YouTube and television with every other boat having a Go Pro or other type of camera on board it's seemingly more important these days to make sure you catch all of the action than it is the fish. But before the incredible number of such programs hit the internet and airwaves, there were a few real pioneers in that type of entertainment.

    Joe Krieger, who was one of those TV pioneers, who had one of the longest-running outdoor shows on American television.

    Krieger was born in Arcadia, Kan., Aug. 21, 1918, and died on April 12, 1997. He had begun fishing at the age of four, and became a Tulsan in 1927 when his family moved here to open and run, for many years, the Krieger Bait Shop on North Lewis Avenue.

    His emergence as a notable figure to thousands of anglers in this area began somewhat by accident, two of his daughters, Joanne and Jeanne, recalled. He was always an avid outdoorsman, both fishing and hunting, but his first appearances on local television screens came as a weather man. He was one of the first certified meteorologists to work at a local station, and after giving weather forecasts on KOTV-Channel 6, he would often end his segments by showing a couple of current fishing photos from a recent trip of his, or friends.

    The outdoors show evolved from that, and the very first of the weekly "Joe Krieger Shows" began in May of 1952, on KOTV. Before his career ended, the program would appear on all Tulsa-based stations.

    As Sam Powell of the Tulsa World recalls; Growing up as a kid in Muskogee in the 1950s, we had a tradition in our family. Bedtime was usually about 10 p.m. before a school day, but Sunday nights were different. My Dad and I would stay up for the Krieger show at 10:30 p.m. You didn't miss church, or that TV program, on our Sundays. And Dad and I would always marvel at how in the world that guy managed to catch so many fish, week after week after week!

    Many turns of this old world later, I got the answer to that question. I didn't fish with Joe Krieger often, maybe four or five times at most. But all of those outings, as I recall, were memorable, and impressive. We absolutely loaded the boat with fish, every time.

    One outing was especially memorable, for it was the first time I was invited to fish with the legendary angler. About 12 to 14 men, with maybe six or seven boats, journeyed to Grand Lake for a very early spring fishing trip. The weather turned brutal, and I vividly recall almost freezing to death. But man, did we catch the big bass!

    Also in the boat that day was Clyde Bayer, founder of Bayer Marine here in Tulsa, who was Krieger's TV-show partner at that time. Krieger always had a "partner" who was his co-host of the show, appeared on the set with him, and helped narrate and comment on that week's film. What made that outing so special was the fact our threesome returned to the dock late that day with an awesome load of bass. Long before the days of catch-and-release, we cleaned a prodigious weight of fish that evening. And no one -- not one single other boat in our party -- had hardly caught a fish all that day. No kidding.

    "The man could actually smell fish," commented one of his longtime friends. "I know it sounds crazy, but I was on enough trips with the man, over many years, to tell you that was actually a fact," said Carl Pierceall of Muskogee.

    His daughters recalled how the show reached the TV airwaves, long before today's high- tech world of video cameras and all the rest. Krieger shot his show with a 16mm Bell and Howell camera. Immediately after shooting, film was shipped to Dallas for processing, with about a two to three-day leeway for return to Tulsa. "And there were many times someone would have to make a long drive down there, and back, to retrieve film so Dad could get another show on the air," Joanne remembered.

    Krieger would then edit the film at home on an editing machine, and time the 30-minute show, to the minute, with a stopwatch. The program was usually taped on a Friday afternoon at a TV station, for Sunday's showing. His very last show aired on May 30, 1991. It ended 38 consecutive years of weekly programs.

    And Krieger continued to fish, right up to the end. Daughter Joanne said her "most memorable" of countless such outings, occurred only a few months before his passing. She lives near Caddo Lake in northwest Texas, and she and Krieger "caught a basketful of big redears" (perch), which they cleaned and then enjoyed for a wondeful meal,

    If, like this writer, you recall the many great years of Joe Krieger shows on your television, I bet there's many things about the man which you didn't know, or don't recall. Here's only a few:

    Like most real veterans, he didn't talk about his war experiences. But he was a B17 bomber pilot with the Army Air Corps in World War II, and managed to survive those 25 deadly missions. He served with the 381st Bomb Group stationed in England, and flew into harm's way from late 1944 to 1945. He was highly decorated, including the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal with oak leaf cluster. He later became a weather officer -- which led to his career as a TV weatherman -- also served in Alaska before the war ended, and left the service as a lieutenant colonel.

    During the 1960s he ran a "Joe Krieger Fishing School," which was extremely popular and usually sold out. The school included personally escorted trips to local lakes, which usually meant Grand, since that was always among his favorite fishing spots. He also produced and sold special maps of lakes in this region, which included tips on how and when to fish them, and productive areas. Beginning in 1953 he manufactured and marketed a lure called the "Dragnetter", which many believe was the very first true spinnerbait on the American market.

    Although he was not a tournament fisherman, he won one of the very first really large- scale events ever held in the U.S. The Freshwater World Series of Sport Fishing was held on Grand Lake in 1961, and it suited Krieger to a T, since it was a multi-species competition, not just for black bass. As any longtime viewer of his show would recall, he enjoyed catching all types of fish, not just bass.

    He was truly an end to an era, in Oklahoma. Every one of the many, many TV outdoorsmen whom you can now watch on a cold winter's day, owes a little something to a man named Joe Krieger.

    Original report by Sam Powell


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    Thanks Lonnie. Sitting here on a cold Feb evening and your story touched off some great memories. As a kid who was nuts about the outdoors I never missed any shows that aired about fishing or hunting. Curt Gowdy, Gaddabout Gaddis and Virgil Ward to name a few would take me to places that I could only dream about. I have been fortunate and blessed to have the means to spend time in the outdoors with family, friends and many of our customers fishing and hunting. Throughout the years The Good Lord has used these outings to provide the opportunities to share the beauty of His Creation and provide the setting to share a word of encouragement to another in the boat. The next chapter in my life is our 6 grandkids between 2 and 4 and the Good Lord willing many days ahead in the boat together. Have a good evening! Specseeker
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    Eagle 1 is offline Crappie.com Legend and Mississippi Moderator * Crappie.com Supporter
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    Curt Gowdy and Virgil Ward were my heroes till Bill Dance showed up .
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    My memories of fishing shows from the early days are all about The Sportsman's Friend. Harold Ensley hosted the show for 48 years.

    In 1953, Ensley decided to try something relatively new: a prime-time television show on fishing. The weekly half-hour program, called The Sportsman's Friend, aired on KCMO in Kansas City, and included segments on fishing, hunting and other outdoor adventures. With sponsorship from the Ford Motor Company, the show was an immediate success. "When we first tried this live show, I wondered if anyone would even tune in," Mr. Ensley said. "But after that first show, the switchboard at the station was filled up. There must be more fishermen out there than I thought."Initially in Black and White, Ensley said it was the second televised outdoors show at that time. Later it would be among the first of television shows in the Midwest to air in color. When Mr. Ensley started his show, fishing was prime-time material. He did live shows weekly for 21 years, opposite such popular series as Peter Gunn and Ben Casey. Yet, The Sportsman's Friend jumped to the top of the ratings and fared very well throughout the years. He chose to continue using his radio show theme song, "Gone Fishin'" for his television program. At the end of each show, Harold Ensley would give his closing thoughts leading into "his fishing fever getting up", and then transitioning into his slightly varying tagline: "....and you know when Ensley's fishin' fever is high, if anybody asks where Ensley is, you tell 'em that the last you saw him, he had gone fishin'." He would then hang his "Gone Fishin'" sign over the mantle of his "hunting lodge set" fireplace and exit as his theme song started to play. His tagline/song combination was so effective that The Sportsman's Friend also became known as "Gone Fishin' " by many viewers.
    Harold Ensley - Wikipedia

    I still think of the show almost every time I go fishing.
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    Around NE Ohio and NW Pa we had Jerry Blinzly. I got the chance to talk to him at a sports show and then meet him again out on Pine Lake. He was a great guy.
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    Like em all except for ------> Bill Dance always fishing in his stock pond.
    -------> "Go ahead --- leave me on the dock --- see if I care" <-------

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    shipahoy41 is offline Crappie.com Legend - 2022 Crappie.com Man of the Year * Crappie.com Supporter
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    I thank all of the pioneers and trailblazers that got us interested in fishing. Many of them were just "Pushing product" but Al Linder , Russ Bailey, and Wally Marshall took the time to write me and encourage me. To me that meant a lot. Now I love to watch the down home approach of Richard Gene the fishing machine. He does not try to sell you anything, he just teaches you about fishing "Because it's good fer ya!"
    Aquatic Species Removal Engineer.
    May God be with you. Keep CALM and STAY ANCHORED with your faith.

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    Great story. I grew up watching Virgil Ward catching monster fish on those Johnson reels.
    I was living in Memphis when Bill Dance was sponsored by an army surplus store and Strike King baits.
    His show would come on Saturday afternoons and he was usually fishing the oxbows along the river and the COE big four in Mississippi. Within thirty minutes of the show’s ending, my buddies and I would be at Surplus City buying whatever bait that he slayed em with that week.

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